Democratic congressman John Murtha (PA – 12th district) is the poster boy for what is wrong in Washington. In a showcase example of behavior that skates just this side of the line from prosecutable corruption, he is hosting a party tonight to extort contributions from lobbyists for firms that receive federal funding at his behest. The Washington Examiner reports:

Oink! Oink! Murtha’s porkfest

Rep. John Murtha is hosting a gala dinner tonight at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City for defense industry lobbyists who have received and who hope to receive millions of tax dollars via earmarks sponsored by the Pennsylvania Democrat.

Murtha is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s closest allies and one of the leading earmarkers in Congress. Tickets for the “Evening with Jack and Joyce Murtha” dinner cost $1,500 per person. Murtha and cohorts like Rep. James Moran, D-Va., and Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., have refined the earmark-for-a-contribution process to a fine art. A Roll Call investigation last year found, with assistance from Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Sunlight Foundation, that the three Democrats funneled millions of dollars in earmarks for firms whose executives then contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to their re-election campaigns….

RedState Blog has put out a call for protesters. They will take pictures of those who attend the party and post them on the Internet. Stay tuned!

Less than two years ago, Murtha was quick to accept the accounts of hostile Iraqis over those of United States Marines about an incident in Haditha. MSNBC reported:

Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’

A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.

From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children….

On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true….

The Marine Corps issued a statement in response to Murtha’s remarks:

“There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.”….

By last October, the Haditha story was falling apart. Newsweek reported:

Haditha Unraveled

Lt. Col. Paul Ware can be blunt. As the investigating officer in the Haditha affair, he has the job of assessing how strong a case the prosecution has against Marines suspected of killing 24 civilians after being ambushed two years ago in western Iraq. Haditha is the highest-profile atrocity case since the start of the war. For more than a year, prosecutors have assembled evidence against four shooters in Kilo Company, including Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 26. But in a painstaking, 37-page report written earlier this month and obtained by NEWSWEEK, Ware tells the military lawyers their case is weak: “The evidence is contradictory, the forensic analysis is limited and almost all the witnesses have an obvious bias or prejudice.”

The Haditha case seems to be unraveling….the sinister reality of insurgents’ hiding among civilians in Iraq has complicated the case….

Murtha, of course, has never apologized for his notable clutch error — engaging his mouth before his brain was in gear.

For unexplainable reasons, Murtha narrowly escaped indictment in the 1980 FBI sting operation called “Abdul scam,” or Abscam. One United States senator and six congressmen were convicted of soliciting bribes. Good coverage of the whole affair is provided by an article in The American Spectator:

Murtha and the FBI: The Director’s Cut

For more than 26 years, Congressman John P. “Jack” Murtha (D-Penn.) has not been truthful about his involvement in Abscam, court records and the complete video of his meeting with the FBI show….

Murtha has repeatedly maintained his innocence in the Abscam sting operation, even as recently as this year. However, his November 20, 1980 testimony in the trial of Congressmen Frank Thompson (D-N.J.) and John Murphy (D-N.Y.) and the FBI’s complete undercover video of his January 7, 1980 meeting with its agent and informant reveal a man showcasing his political influence and apparently tempted to take a $50,000 bribe. On the tape, Murtha appears eager to arrange his own, long-term deal with the supposed representatives of Arab sheiks, and to cut out Thompson and Murphy. His testimony reveals that after his January 7 meeting, he looked into helping the sheiks enter the country, rather than contacting the FBI or the Ethics Committee, of which he was a member….

If you have the stomach for a lot of sleaze, take the time to read all of this article. You can watch the undercover video from the FBI sting involving Murtha below:

How, you may ask, did this fellow get elected to Congress and keep his seat for 32 years? A look at the map of the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania reveals all — and almost gives new meaning to the word “gerrymander.”

His district includes:

• Part of Allegheny County
• Part of Armstrong County
• Part of Cambria County
• Part of Fayette County
• All of Greene County
• Part of Indiana County
• Part of Somerset County
• Part of Washington County
• And part of Westmoreland County

Just to show how minutely this district was sliced and diced, consider some of the fine detail from Washington County:

…Washington County consisting of the Cities of Monongahela and Washington and the Townships of Canton, Carroll Districts 2, 3 and 5, Chartiers Districts 3, 5, 6 and 7, East Bethlehem, Fallowfield Districts 1, 2 and 4, North Bethlehem, North Strabane Districts 2, and 3 (only blocks 3016, 3017, 4004, 4005, 4006, 4007, 4011, 4012, 4013 and 4015 of tract 745100), Somerset, South Strabane Districts 2, 4 and 5, Union, West Bethlehem; and West Pike Run and the Boroughs of Allenport, Beallsville, Bentleyville, California, Canonsburg Wards 2 and 3 (Division 1), Centerville, Charleroi Districts 1, 3 and 4, Coal Center, Cokeburg, Deemston, Donora, Dunlevy, East Washington District 2, Elco, Ellsworth, Finleyville, Houston, Long Branch, Marianna, New Eagle, North Charleroi, Roscoe, Speers, Stockdale, Twilight and West Brownsville.

As they say, the devil is in the details.

For a more detailed look at all the roads and towns, up close and personal, go here.

Good sources:

RedState Blog: Paging all D.C.-Area RedStaters. You’re Invited to a Party

Murtha Must Go Blog

The Washington Examiner

The American Spectator

Americans for Prosperity

Three major national taxpayer watchdog groups are banding together to hold a rally outside U.S. Rep. John Murtha’s swanky fundraising dinner with pork-barrel-seeking defense lobbyists on Wednesday evening. Taxpayers plan to gather outside the upscale Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City, Virginia, to display their displeasure with Representative Murtha “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”

Citizens Against Government Waste

Citizens Against Government Waste today announced the final results of its online poll for the 2007 Porker of the Year. Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-Pa.) won in a landslide victory, receiving 63.4 percent of the vote….

Rep. Jack Murtha has long been known inside the Beltway for using threats, power plays, and backroom deals to control spending decisions. There is an area of the House floor known as “Murtha’s Corner,” where the legendary appropriator dispenses earmarks. The overwhelming vote for Porker of the Year vote shows that his shameful behavior is attracting attention throughout the country. The congressman inserts pork whenever he can to serve himself and his district. In fiscal year 2008, he brought home 72 pork projects worth $149.2 million….